Background/Purpose: Frailty, measured with the SLICC-FI, has been reported as a predictor of damage in several cohorts. The aim of this study is to evaluate the SLICC-FI as a predictor of hospitalization in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients.

Methods: Patients from a single-center prevalent cohort were included. The SLICC-FI was measured at baseline. Hospitalizations were reported during the first two years after the baseline visit as their number as well as their duration.
Univariable and multivariable negative binomial regressions were performed to determine the association between the baseline SLICC-FI (per 0.05 increase) and hospitalizations during follow-up (number and length), adjusted for sex, age at diagnosis, socioeconomic status, educational level, disease duration, SLE Disease Activity Index 2000 (SLEDAI-2K), SLICC damage index (SDI), prednisone daily dose, antimalarial and immunosuppressive drug use at baseline.

Results: Of the 302 patients included 280 (92.7%) were female, with mean (SD) age at diagnosis of 34.6 (7.2) years. At baseline, the mean (SD) disease duration was 7.2 (6.4) years, and the mean (SD) SLICC-FI was 0.21 (0.05). The mean number of hospitalizations per patient was 0.5 (1.6) and the mean number of days hospitalized during the two-year period per patient was 5.3 (16.8) days; 58 (17.9%) of the patients were hospitalized at least once during the follow-up. The SLICC-FI predicted a higher probability of hospitalizations as well as with a higher number of hospitalizations; these data are depicted in table 1.

Conclusion: The SLICC-FI predicts hospitalizations in SLE patients, independently of other well-known risk factors of hospitalizations. Further studies are needed to determine strategies to improve frailty in SLE patients.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/the-systemic-lupus-international-collaborating-clinics-slicc-frailty-index-slicc-fi-predicts-hospitalizations-data-from-the-almenara-lupus-cohort/